Insulation industry news from Global Insulation

Brazil: Saint-Gobain has acquired a 70% stake in Brazil-based British Indústria e Comércio Ltd for an undisclosed amount. Saint-Gobain said that the deal with the Brazilian group, which manufactures and sells non-woven abrasives for industrial applications, would strengthen its position in the industry and add new customers to its portfolio.

India: BASF has unveiled its largest construction chemicals plant in Nellore, Andhra Pradesh. This is BASF's fifth construction chemicals plant in the country.

With its state-of-the-art technology and its strategic location close to regional growth centres, the plant will enable BASF to respond in a timely fashion to customers' needs in the southern part of India and to support them with high-performance solutions in the highly-competitive market.

"With the new plant at Nellore, BASF offers a comprehensive range of solutions to help construct buildings that are more energy-efficient, durable and require fewer resources for maintenance," said Ralf Spettmann, president of construction chemicals at BASF.

US: Officials of CertainTeed Corp, part of Saint-Gobain, have announced that the company will renovate its plant in Kansas City, Kansas, creating more than 70 new jobs over the next three years.

CertainTeed said that it has begun renovating its plant to begin production of fibreglass insulation products during the second quarter of 2015. Greg Silvestri, president of CertainTeed Insulation, said that the company is investing more than US$30m to re-engineer the plant's furnace and restart related production lines to give it greater flexibility to support its growing business needs.

Slovenia: Germany's Knauf Insulation, which is switching from coke to natural gas as part of an upgrade at one of its three stone wool production lines, will be the main user of what is to be Messer's first oxygen production plant in Slovenia and one of around 30 in Europe.

"This will be the most technologically-developed line in Europe and will mean a great competitive edge for the company," said Knauf Insulation boss Tomaž Lanišek.

Using natural gas requires oxygen and Lanišek described the investments of Knauf and Messer Slovenija as complementary. He pointed out that CO₂ and sulphur and nitrogen oxides emissions would be halved. "Messer is becoming a partner company in our future plans at our location," said Lanišek.

Messer said that this was its biggest investment in the country to date and was expected to generate 15 to 20 new jobs. The company's CEO Danilo Lukač explained that the plant would produce oxygen, nitrogen and argon.

US: Bayer MaterialScience has appointed Bill Brengel as the general manager for the spray polyurethane foam (SPF) insulation and roofing materials business. In this role, Brengel will lead the sales, customer service, product and application development, and manufacturing groups with a focus on excellence and profitable growth.

Brengel has over 25 years of operations and business leadership experience in industries such as chemicals, plastics and building materials. He also has experience in business strategy and organisational growth and has led various business improvement initiatives. He holds a mechanical engineering degree from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and a business degree from Coe College. He has served on a variety of boards and industry associations

"Bill has an excellent combination of strategy and process," commented Jerry MacCleary, President of Bayer MaterialScience NAFTA region. "His hands-on work ranges from production, to sales and marketing and overall health of the business. He is extremely goal oriented with a constant focus on quality. With his experience, Bill will be a champion for both our customers and our internal team."